Writer dies while on 'filthy' ward

Renowned writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante died after contracting MRSA at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital while being treated for a broken hip.

After being admitted following a fall at his West London home, the 75-yearold from Cuba, developed pneumonia, then contracted MRSA. Mr Cabrera Infante's daughter

Carola Ash said the family were not told he had MRSA until a day before his death in the renal unit on 21 February.

She said: "We feel there was a catalogue of errors on basic cleanliness. There was blood on the curtains around the bed, and excrement on the walls - filthy conditions." A spokeswoman for the hospital said it was investigating. "Mr Cabrera Infante regrettably did have MRSA. He had a longstanding medical condition and had undergone major surgery.

"We take cleanliness very seriously," she said.

Mr Cabrera Infante, who came to Britain in 1965, won the Miguel de Cervantes literary prize in 1997.